


Campfires and Constellations

by kelex



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 08:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4515105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor (Tentoo) takes Rose camping in Pete's World.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Campfires and Constellations

Rose had insisted on camping out. And not with a tent--Rose's ideal camp-out meant sleeping bags, a campfire, and marshmallows on sticks. And of course he couldn't say no to her.

So he borrowed a couple of sleeping bags from Pete and Jackie's camping equipment, bought a bag of marshmallows and a load of other foods that Rose liked--S'mores ingredients, hot dogs and burgers with buns, cans of beans he has no intention of eating.

Pete helped pack a few other essentials the Doctor neglected; torches and extra batteries, water canteens and purification tablets, matches, and a satellite phone with GPS. "Call if you need help," Pete urged.

The Doctor didn't think he'd need to.

But he picked Rose up after work with all the borrowed gear packed in the back of Pete's truck, with a map folded open across the dash.

Rose, for her part, had been curious all week. She knew that the Doctor was planning something, but she wasn't expecting a truckload of camping equipment. But it was the weekend, and Torchwood was in the capable hands of Gwen Cooper, who usually handled the day-to-day operations. So she had no qualms about getting into Pete's truck and kissing the Doctor's cheek. "Oi, you."

"Oi yourself," retorted the Doctor, turning in for a proper kiss. "Got your boots behind the seat there."

Only when Rose turned around to grab her hiking boots did she notice the Doctor's clothes. Instead of his usual skinny suit and funky tie, he was wearing blue jeans and boots with a black button-up. There was a duffel bag under the boots, and she found a cozy, well-worn flannel shirt and jeans from her closet. She was moved to give the Doctor another kiss. "So what's the occasion?"

"You insisted," the Doctor reminded with a smile.

"Yeah, but you said no," Rose pointed out, snuggling against his side.

"Well, yes, but have I ever stood on that?" His arm slipped around her shoulders. "Don't like saying no to you. Sides, your Da damn near dared me."

That did sound a bit like Pete, yeah. "Well, I don't care. If you don't want to--"

"It's an adventure!" the Doctor cut in. "It'll be fun."

"Fun?" Rose echoed skeptically.

"Course. I'll be with you."

\---

Both Rose and the Doctor shrugged off their backpacks. The clearing the Doctor had chosen was gorgeous and quiet, and would provide excellent views of both the sunset and the night sky. 

Rose had changed and was glad of the boots especially. "How about I lay out the sleeping bags and you go find us some firewood?" she suggested.

The Doctor gestured at the backpacks. "There's a trowel in there, one of those collapsible jobs. Might dig up a fire pit when I get back." His tone of voice indicated he had only a vague notion of what a fire pit might be, or how to go about digging one beyond "a great wide hole in the ground, yeah?"

In that, Rose was as ignorant as the Doctor. "I got my phone, I'll look it up and we'll have a go together."

"Sounds right." The Doctor rummaged through his rucksack and found a hatchet. "Right, off to chop down a couple of trees. Um…" He gave the small axe a fretful look. "If you hear me yelling, don't call your dad. Or Jackie. Or Mickey." A pause. "Or anyone at Torchwood."

"So, just let you rot under the tree, then," Rose teased.

The Doctor cracked a laugh. "Say I just do the branches then and not the trees. No falling trees, no distress call. Now that's sorted, off I go."

Rose watched her Doctor carefully disappear into the woods, and then yanked out her phone once he was gone. A quick text told Pete and Mickey where they were, complete with coordinates from the GPS, and a quick search revealed the secret of a fire pit--a hole, lined with rocks, and a good source of ignition.

So she got herself busy rolling out the sleeping bags and unpacking their gear.

By the time the Doctor got back with the first load, Rose had both bags zipped together into one large bag. There was a decent size stack of rocks, and most of their stuff was unpacked. "You forgot ice," Rose told him, nudging the toolbox she'd lugged in from the truck. "But I can go down the store and get a kilo while you finish."

"Ice, of course." The Doctor slapped himself on the forehead. "That's what I forgot! Yeah, go on, I'll get the fire ready to go when you get back. Dig a hole, line it with rocks?"

"You got it. See you in a bit, Doctor," Rose waved, catching the keys as they came flying at her. "Cheers!"

\---

Rose got back just about half an hour before dusk. The fire pit was dug, lined with rocks, and filled with firewood and kindling. Another pile was nearby for later in the evening, and fat white marshmallows were already skewered on two long sticks. 

And there in the middle of everything sat the Doctor, proud as punch. He was still flushed from the work, but he beamed as he got up to help Rose empty the ice into the tool bin.

"You waiting for it to get dark before you light that?" she asked curiously, dropping onto the quilted bags. 

The Doctor lay beside her, looking at the sky. "Actually, yeah. Didn't want anything to get in the way of… that." He waved a hand at the sky where the sun was just starting to set. 

The pinks always made him think of Rose. Most times, the color of her lips. Sometimes the pink hooded sweatshirt she seemed so fond of wearing. The colors of the sunset deepened and spread, an inky indigo that slowly bled across the sky. Rose snuggled closer to the Doctor, lacing their fingers together. 

They were both unnaturally quiet as the last light faded away in silence, leaving moonlight and starlight unbroken by clouds.

Only then did the Doctor rise, crouching by the fire pit. He flicked in a lit match, and the roar of kindling and crinkling newspaper filled the air. Not long after, the wood started to catch, and soon they had a merrily burning campfire.

"Thank you," Rose said softly, reaching for the stick-speared marshmallow. Holding it out, she started toasting it golden brown. 

"For what?" The Doctor picked up his own stick to follow suit.

"For all of this! For everything!" And then she giggled loudly. "Not that close! Pull it--" Just then, the Doctor's marshmallow became a flaming mass of goo that dripped into the fire. "--back." More giggles. "Poor Doctor. You've never done this before, have you?"

The Doctor scowled at his innocent stick. "No, I haven't. I mean, I've slept outdoors before, I've even had outdoor picnics, but never with roasted marshmallows."

Rose pulled her stick in and blew on hers. "Here, we'll share. Just bite it right off the stick, it's just gonna fall apart otherwise," she explained, demonstrating. "Like this," was muffled through the toasty goo.

Leaning in, he tried to mirror Rose's movements, but ended up with a nose full of marshmallow. "I don't think this is going to work."

Laughter swelled in the night as Rose moved to lick the cooling marshmallow off the Doctor's face. Instead, he grabbed her as she leaned in and rolled her under him. "This means war," he threatened, wiggling his fingers in tickle position.

Shrieking in anticipation of the imminent tickling, Rose twisted around and raised her own hands in retaliation. "I will tickle, and you know I know where!"

The Doctor's laughter got louder as he held up his hands in surrender. "Don't shoot!"

Rose grinned as her fingers attacked the Doctor's ribcage through the flannel shirt. "No mercy!" she cried out, tickling hard while trying not to buck the Doctor off. Suddenly he rolled, trying to get away, and Rose clamped her knees on either side of his hips to increase her leverage.

Suddenly they were moving in another rhythm entirely. The Doctor's hands came up to grip Rose's thighs, keeping her nestled atop him. Their eyes met, and Rose's hands pressed flat against his chest. Her nails dug in, crinkling the flannel and scraping over his skin.

Several heartbeats passed between them, and after a moment's hesitation, she leaned in to kiss the Doctor. In the fire a log snapped, sending embers skyward. Both startled, and Rose rolled away from the Doctor, mood broken.

The Doctor wiped his face clean, and Rose busied herself with putting hot dogs on collapsible cooking rods. "Here, better have dinner."

"Thanks." An undercurrent of awkwardness laid heavy between the two of them. They sat on either side of the fire, toasting two hot dogs and a hamburger each. Something about the fresh air and the smell of the fire made them both ravenous, and they devoured every bite. For dessert, the Doctor produced chocolate bars and graham crackers.

"S'mores!" Rose moved back to the Doctor's side at the draw of chocolate. "I'll toast the marshmallows, cause you're rubbish at it. You work on assembly. Cracker, chocolate, hot marshmallow, cracker. Got it?"

"A border collie could get that," the Doctor teased, elbowing Rose's side.

"So you'll be able to handle that, then?" Rose teased back, the awkwardness dissipating in the face of shared amusement.

The Doctor stuck out his tongue, and Rose shoved a marshmallow into his mouth. He grinned as he chewed, opening the cracker box and unwrapping the chocolate bars.

\---

"Oh my God. I don't think I could eat another bite." Rose held her hand up, refusing the last of the s'mores that the Doctor offered. 

The Doctor considered the confection, then bit it in half. He held the other half out to Rose in a gesture of _you're sure?_ , and when Rose declined again, he finished it off in two more bites. "That wasn't actually half bad," the Doctor decided after a few moments.

"Yeah, so long as you weren't the one dealing with the marshmallows," Rose teased, her head resting on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Eventually I'll get the hang of it." The Doctor turned and took a deep breath of Rose's hair. It smelled of outdoors and smoke, and he rested his cheek on her head. "Having a good time?"

"Fantastic," she answered, slipping an arm around his waist to hug him in close. "I can't believe you really did all this for me."

"You're worth it." Quiet, calm, and sure, the Doctor's voice didn't waver. "I love you, Rose."

The sound of those words coming from the Doctor was still a big shock, and she took a few moments to digest it. "I love you, Doctor." _Always have, always will,_ danced on the tip of her tongue, but she kept it swallowed back. She still wasn't sure how it worked, if referring to the other Doctor was allowable, how it would make her Doctor feel.

"Quite right, too," he murmured quietly, reflexively, without even thinking.

Rose startled, but quickly settled back. Of course he was the Doctor, they'd share some of the same speech patterns despite the mix of Donna's Chiswick slang. "How's the TARDIS?"

"Actually growing well. Donna was right, and the crystal matrices are developing far faster than I'd hoped. Be about six more months before she's ready for a test drive."

Rose perked up. "Just after Christmas, then?"

"That's what it looks like, yeah. Christmas dinner with your mum and dad, and then off to see the universe."

Rose disentangled herself from the Doctor long enough to lie back and gaze at the stars. After a moment, the Doctor joined her, snuggling into their joined bags. Lifting her finger, she traced the stars of Orion's belt. She still couldn't quite get used to the fact that the stars here were reversed. It made the constellations odd-looking. 

Taking her hand, the Doctor moved her finger to trace a line of four faint stars. "Beyond those stars, there's a path to another place. And from that side of the sky, those four stars are part of a constellation called Kasterbourous, and around one of those stars once orbited a planet called Gallifrey. But now it's gone. Gallifrey is gone because of me."

Rose impulsively kissed her Doctor's cheek. "Don't think about it. Look, there's the big bear. And there's Andromeda. And the Seven Sisters."

"Pleiades," he added absently, following Rose's pointing fingers. "See, there's Scorpio, behind Orion. Apollo was jealous of Orion's relationship with Artemis, Apollo's twin sister. And so out of that jealousy he sent a great scorpion to sting the hunter, which it did, and so Orion died. But Apollo was moved by his sister's grief, and he repented, helping Artemis hang Orion's image in the sky so he would never be forgotten. And so Scorpio always chases the great hunter."

"I didn't know all that." Mostly because Rose had left school before studying all of that. "Tell me more?" Nestling in close to the Doctor, she waited expectantly, listening to his single heartbeat.

The Doctor smiled over at Rose, stroking her hair gently. "Look at the shape of Andromeda; her arms are spread wide because she'd chained to a rock. She'd been left out as a sacrifice to a sea monster, and was rescued by Perseus, the Gorgon slayer."

He hunted around for another interesting constellation. 

\---

Rose had closed her eyes while the Doctor spoke, painting the stories with his voice. Her hand rested on his chest, and only when the Doctor fell silent did she realize everything in the woods had gone quiet. "I could listen to you forever," Rose whispered as the night came back alive.

"Well, that's good, because I could talk your ears off," he joked with a grin.

"It's one of the things I love about you." She patted the giant bag underneath them. "We better get in bed before it gets too late."

The Doctor banked the fire so it would keep them warm overnight, and he could bring the embers back to life in the morning. Then he took off his boots, lined them up beside Rose's boots, and slid into the bag beside Rose.

Her arms were open and ready for him, and they moved in close. Rose rolled onto her side, and the Doctor pulled her in close against his chest. "Sweet dreams, Rose Tyler."

"Long as I got you? Always."

The End


End file.
